During an operation for minimally invasive hip endoprosthetics with anterior approach the femur head is cut off and removed. After cutting off of the femur head the remaining femur has to be stabilized and fixed in order to prevent lowering of the thigh due to the dead weight of the leg. Further, it has to be ensured that the surgeon performing the operation permanently has an optimal access to the femur. For this, the femur has to be slightly raised.
The above-mentioned measures are realized in the prior art in the following manner. First, a support of the femur without auxiliary means provided specifically for this purpose is considered. In this case, the surgeon or his assistant raises the femur manually, if required.
As technical auxiliary means often a cushioned roll is used, which is arranged below the thigh to support the femur indirectly. Also an indirect support by means of a suitable support arranged below the buttocks is possible.
From the prior art further devices are known which allow for a direct support at the bone by means of a femur support specifically provided for this purpose. Such a device is for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,824,353 B2. This prior art device comprises a femur support having a bent hook part and a shaft connected to the hook part. The shaft is attached to a longitudinal cantilever, which, in turn, is mounted on a vertical column pivotably about the longitudinal axis thereof. The column is coupled with an adjustment device which allows for moving the column and thus the cantilever and the femur support received at the cantilever in the vertical direction. This movement takes place in an adjustment plane, which is placed perpendicularly to the lying surface of the operating table and in parallel to the longitudinal direction thereof. For realization of this movement the adjustment device has a rotation shaft placed in the adjustment plane, which is for example operated by means of a crank in order to move the femur support linearly in the vertical direction in this manner.
The solution to move the femur support in the adjustment plane as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,824,353 B2 is comparatively complex. Thus, it takes in particular trouble to operate the rotation shaft placed in the adjustment plane for example by means of a crank in order to move the femur support in the adjustment plane. Also the linear movement of the femur support in the adjustment plane is not always suited to stabilize the femur in the desired manner.